Omelette Rice with Curry Sauce

Back into the kitchen!

I was under extensive care from mommy during my one month stay in Taiwan,
That translates as "Cindy is not allowed in the kitchen."
Seriously, she'll kick me out if I started wandering around the spatulas and pots...
My mom's reasoning: You provide no help in the kitchen.
A stab in my little food blogger's heart...

So all I had to do was sitting by the table and wait,
Moments later, plates of gorgeous homemade food will be handed in front of me...
Good life.

Sadly reality kicks in...
Now I'm back in California...no one is feeding me here...I have to work for my own food...

So here's omelette rice with curry sauce, made by someone who provides no help in the kitchen...

Ingredients? (for 4 big plates)

4 cups of rice (I used more, you know...my portion is larger than normal people..)
1 cup of chopped broccoli
1 lb of chicken (chopped)
1 medium carrot (chopped)
5 bottom mushrooms (sliced)
10 eggs
1 onion (1/2 chopped, 1/2 sliced)
2 stalks of scallion (chopped)
2 tablespoons of finely chopped fried onions
Japanese curry cubes
Olive oil
Salt
Black pepper
Soy sauce
Mirin
Oyster sauce
Chili paste
Hot water
Some dried seaweed flakes

How?

Don't be scared by the long list of ingredients,
This is actually a super easy recipe,
Basically there are just 3 main components: fried rice, eggs, and curry sauce.

So let's make the fried rice first,
You can use any ingredients of your liking,
Corns, bell peppers, you name it.

I marinated the chicken cubes with some soy sauce and some mirin for about 15 minutes.
For the fried rice,
Drizzle some olive oil in the pan, toss in chopped onions, sprinkle some salt, and give it a quick stir.
Add the scallions and some black peppers, cook till the onions turned translucent,
Now we add the marinated chicken cubes.

When the chicken is almost cooked, toss in chopped carrot, broccoli, and mushrooms,
I also added more soy sauce, some oyster sauce, and chili paste at this moment,
You'll have to decide for how salty you want it to be,
But remember don't use too much because the curry sauce we gonna pour over the rice later on will be salty too.
*For me, I used mainly oyster sauce for the seasonings and less soy sauce.

Pour in about 1/2 cup of hot water, bring to a boil,
Give it a quick taste to see if more seasonings are needed.
Add the rice into the mixture, few scoops at the time and mix well with the ingredients,
This little trick prevents uneven rice lumps that couldn't get fully coated with the sauce.

When the fried rice is ready, scoop it out and set aside.

Have a medium pot ready for the curry sauce.
Drizzle some oil in the pot, toss in sliced onions, sprinkle some salt, and cook till translucent.
Pour in some hot water and add some curry cubes.
Mix well. Bring to a boil and turn to low medium heat, 
Taste to see if more curry cubes are needed.
Toss in chopped fried onions and let it simmer for another 10 minutes.

For the omelette part,
Drizzle some oil in the pot, wait till it gets very hot, and pour in beated eggs,
About 2.5 to 3 eggs for one portion of fried rice.

Keep stirring the egg, try not to let the center gets fully cooked,
Before that happens, transfer the egg onto the rice.

Pour in some curry sauce, sprinkle with dried seaweed flakes.

That's my omelette rice with curry sauce!
I wish my mom can taste this dish, but the result can be nerve racking..
Either she'll approve with my kitchen skills...or she'll just ban me forever from the kitchen...

Cindy's Rating: 8

Afternoon Tea Addict - Taiwan, Taipei

While most of the people are having fun drinking during traveling,
I'm sipping my cup of tea with accompanying snacks,
Call me a weirdo, maybe an aged person...
Somehow tea interests me more than alcohol...
(P.S. I do drink liquor occasionally..either with food or...being forced in some ways...)

So I figured I'd better put up a small post with some of the tea places I've went to during my one month trip to Taiwan, Taipei,
Therefore, my afternoon tea journey begins~

Coffee Alley 咖啡弄-

Pretty popular place in east area,

I guess location-wise is one of its biggest advantages,

Besides that, Coffee Alley also serves some snack items such as waffles and brownie,

However, the waffles only taste mediocre.
In addition to that, Coffee Alley can get very crowded during busy hours, especially during weekends.

http://www.coffee-alley.com.tw/Home/Welcome.html
Locations and store numbers are listed on the bottom of their homepage.

Frog Coffee 蛙咖啡-

Unlike Coffee Alley, Frog Coffee is quite and spacious,
Free wireless service is also provided in the store so you can spend the whole afternoon sipping tea and surfing the web.

Frog Coffee also provides a special "parking area" for bicycles outside the restaurant,
You can hang the bikes on the wooden wall, neato.

http://cafe.frogfree.com/index.html
Locations and store numbers are listed on the website.

Smith & Hsu-

This is the hardcore place for afternoon tea,
Smith & Hsu has a wide selection of tea ranging from Asian oolong tea to European herbal tea.

Before selecting tea flavors, you even get a sample of nearly all the selections they have,
The purpose is for you to "smell" the tea leaves first before making the final decision-

One special note here,
Their scone is superb! After one bite and you'll know what I'm talking about-

It is so buttery, if pairing up with honey, imported butter, and mint tea,
Man....that's heaven...wait...!...that should be a food paradise!

http://www.smithandhsu.com/en/intro.php
Locations and store numbers are listed on the website.
Reservation highly recommended since they only have few tables inside the store.

Room for Dessert-

Cute tea pot-

Most of their dessert plates are decorated with cocoa powder,
I think the quality is pretty good for the price they charge, which is about $7 U.S. for a combination of dessert and tea.

Room for Dessert

Number 15, Alley 187, Section 1, Dun Hua South Road, Taipei, Taiwan

敦化南路一段187巷15號

02-2711-2465

Paul-

An expensive place with growing popularity despite the current economic downturn,

Probably a look into an interesting financial status among the customers dining at Paul.
I guess the rich people are not as hard hitted by the crisis compared to the majority of the residents in Taipei.

Tea-

Quiche-

Paul sells expensive bread and pastries,

When it first opened in Taipei, the place was famous for its imported bread loaves,

Yes you heard me, imported, all the way from France,

The most expensive loaf can costs up to $18 or more.

Strawberry millefeuille-

So does the taste worth the price?

I seriously think it's overrated,

Some bloggers have been to the stores in France and said the flavor is slightly different compared to the ones in Taiwan,

Can't blame Paul for that...after all, some ingredients, even the weather can be a factor of the taste,

However, their price really is not so wallet-friendly.

http://www.paul.fr/index.php

After comparing a few tea places, which one is my favorite?

I'll have to give it to Smith & Hsu,

The service was good, the scone was wonderful,

And most importantly, their wide selection of tea plus pairing notes,

Highly recommended.

One drawback though, they limit your tea sipping time to 2 hours,
Well, don't know about you, but 2 hours is good enough for me.